SM: “This is the happiest I’ve been since being drafted, man. I’m so happy that it doesn’t even feel real. It feels, it just feels like, it feels different to finally be able to get the opportunity to go play for a team that’s established. Everyone is on the same page. There is one goal, and that’s winning a ring, winning the trophy.

“I’m walking into an environment where it’s stable, controlled by the players because the players police themselves. You don’t have to have the coach police what is going on. Everyone seems to have it together and it looks like a family. That’s what it’s all about.”

Q: What would you say to your skeptics who wonder why the Celtics are signing you despite your past problems?

SM: “That’s OK. That’s just a perspective that has been adapted from what someone else told them. If they weren’t there and weren’t in that circle, then they don’t know.”

Q: How does it feel to go to a team that is pretty much drama-free?

SM: “You don’t know how good it feels to know that it’s just one thing, to have fun. [Kevin Garnett] was like, ‘Basketball is going to be fun again, kid.’ Man, I can’t wait. I’m so excited. I haven’t slept in like three days.”

Q: If this chapter ends with a championship, have you thought about how emotional you could be?

SM: “I don’t know what I’d do. I think teams that watch me, they understand about me that I’m a straight shooter. They might not like that. But at the end of the day I’d rather people respect me. I’m not a liar. If I played like [garbage], I played like [garbage]. To win a championship, that’s what you do it for.”

Q: What will it be like to wear the Celtics uniform?

SM: “It’s historical. I don’t even know how to explain that. I’m so humbled by it. I’m grateful for the opportunity. If you look at the teams that we had there with [Larry] Bird, [Kevin] McHale and [Dennis] Johnson and Danny Ainge, it’s like, wow, this is the type of team that is formulating to that style of team. And with the additions they are trying to add, bringing on a guy like Mikki Moore, who is a great energy player, I just want to come in, help, and be one of the pieces that fit into the puzzle, that’s all.”